Lost Windows Password

Hello jimray50

Note: It is really important to carefully follow the Instruction given by the Motherboard Maker, as otherwise you may damage hardware on the Motherboard.

You haven't advised the Motherboard model, but the following are only general instructions.

Open the Computer case, remove the CMOS (watch style) battery) carefully following the Motherboard instructions, remove the jumper, and change the jumper to discharge the CMOS Settings.

If you are going to be involved at a later date, with the same computer, set a special ADMIN password, just for your own use, in case of future trouble with the owner's faulty memory.

Many so-called "Free Password Recovery" utilities, do actually work well, but some leave the computer with a trojan or two, which leaves the Computer vulnerable to remote control by others.

Advise further, please.

Kind Regards....

Hi Sparkstation,

hope you are well.

Good advice here. On the details of the first post of the OP, I never knew the computer was a friend's.

take care.

jimray50 Do a backup to a date prior to entering the password. May not work on master access but worth a try.

Stan,

Unless he's got a hardcopy backup (external drive,CD or DVD), there's no way to regress to an earlier windows restore point without logging in as the user, at least none that I can think of. I suppose if he's talking about a limited user account, that may be a possibility, but if that's the case, you can log in as administrator and change the password for a limited user (at least I think you can).

Tom

Thanks to all, I had to express myself by taking my .45 out and shooting the laptop while in Jacobs Engineering the air (ok, I missed twice but got it the third time). Had to buy an HP Pavillion, motherboard went out twice (under Costco warranty) but I have a password to log on. The old laptop was only 20g anyway so it went out with a bang as it should have.

next time use this PW.

dumbbunny

you will remember it and she will never forget it either...

There are linux bootable disks with the ability crack the NT password hash, supposadly, but I have yet to find one that works...basically you're doing an fdisk and reinstall with all resulting losses. Sorry, but the hash for NT4 or better is pretty good.

When you forget a password on the OS, you're screwed. Sorry. Fdisk, format, reinstall.

If she lives alone with no visitors, why use a password in the first place for the OS, just use the BIOS password to boot and if she forgets it, use the fix that someone else posted.

If she never has visitors, then do not even bother with this.....

Of course, if she has a Laptop, the above should be mostly ignored......

Try recall under hypnosis

http://www.windows-help-central.com/lost-xp-password.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Recover-a-Forgotten-XP-Password

http://www.askvg.com/how-to-reset-recover-forgotten-windows-nt-2000-xp-2003-administrator-password/

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm#1

google gave me those and many more.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22xp+password%22+%2Brecover+%2Bboot&btnG=Google+Search

no need to download software for that.At the time of booting,enter into safemode,log in as Administrator.Go to Control Panel-user accounts--(UR frnds Account name)--remove the password

Do you not need the administrator password to do this?

That is surely the problem they have!!! No administrator password!!!!

and if the admin password (which is usually the first user password) is lost? Deltree from the root, ftw :P.

Good answer.

By default Window don't have password for admin. Most people don't even know there is an admin account.

BTW you don't need safe mode. You can just login normally.

I do not know how to get the pasword but I have helped people with lost paswords to save lots of their info. Many linux live cd's can start up computers, then you have several options, If you have a fat32 partition, you can just copy and paste your info there, you can copy it to a flash drive or a flash card in a reader, or send it to someone elsewhere on the net or you can install a linux partition and save your info there. But cracking paswords, I have no clue.

Contact the manufacturer

Take it to a professional and pay to have it removed. I think I have seen my brother-in-law go into setup and get rid of user names and passwords on used computers. I am too afraid of doing something wrong to try it, which is why you need a good nerd.

Is it the Windows login or bootup login, before windows?

If it's windows there is an easy fix and free. Contact me (or reply) as I go looking for it in my CD box.

If hardware, clear CMOS.

Try this. Maybe it works. If it is XP then boot into safe mode. Now hopefully the administrator password is not set. So log on as administrator. Now go to Start, Control Panel, User accounts. Remove her User account password. Easy.

As far as we all can tell, it is the Admin password that is missing, that has been stated several times I believe....... So here it is again for you personally!!

Yes, it is the administrator password I cannot establish to try all these fixes. More info, it is the main logon with "used identity" and password. The really annoying thing is, and I have tried one hundred permutations of caps and small, I know the password was "lisa1965"; Is it possible I just don't have the user identity correct? Can I find that easily--I thought it was "LISASCOMPUTER" but one or the other is wrong.

I did try to download one fix onto a disc and it "was not formatted correctly", as you can tell I am a semiilliterate computer user, but I will not screw this up again, once i fix it.

Try the AsterWin programme from the link in my earlier post. You can run it from a memory stick & it runs in DOS so Windows does not need to be fully loaded. If you get the user-name right it will reveal the password so at least it cuts your unknowns in half.

Try here for password recovery software, I've used their asterwin programme many times without any problem.

Plain and simple.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html

Ok, here's the end story; I did remember the correct password, but when "she" tried to logon without remembering it herself (she drinks a little bit), she changed her user id to guest, erasing her actual user id, , which I did not remember because she used her maiden name not her married name (she is in the process of getting divorced).

Anyway, thanks for all the input, I am new to this forum and I find it very useful and I predict it will be life-changing, almost as a microcosm of the internet itself, which I use for almost every 'question' I derive.

Hello jimray50,

I suggest you go to the Microsoft site and either search for or ask if they have software to help find your password/s. Check the Microsoft sites below.

You could try using the Restore Backup perhaps?

I hope some of this helps and, the reason I went to Microsoft is because it is less likely you will get a Trojan included 'FREE' with any software!

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/search?query=windows+XP+password+recovery&prd=

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/default.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/resultsForCategory.aspx?displaylang=en&categoryid=7

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/windows-help

Good luck.

Take care

If you’ve forgotten or lost your Windows 10 password for a local account and need to sign back into your device, the below options might help you get up and running.

Reset your Windows 10 local account password

1. Select the Reset password link on the sign-in screen. If you use a PIN instead, see PIN sign-in issues.
2. Answer your security questions.
3. Enter a new password.
4. Sign in as usual with the new password.

Note: If you don't see security questions after you select the Reset password link, make sure your device name isn't the same as your local user account name (the name you see when you sign in). To see your device name, right-click Start in the taskbar, select System, and scroll to the Device specifications section. If the device name is the same as your account name, you can create a new administrator account, sign in as an administrator, and then rename your PC (when you view your device name, you can also rename it).